The Ceremony

Amidst a rainy day, the winners and the runners-up of the Hantsweb Awards 2005 were announced at a special award ceremony, held on Tuesday 7th March at the Friends Provident St Marys Stadium in Southampton.  This year's awards have been the most successful to date, with more than 700 local websites competing for thirteen categories.

With more than £20,000 pounds worth of prizes on offer, the anticipation was electric.  The trophies were made by local glass artist, Sue Tinkler,  Each award was created with layers of glass fused together in a kiln.  The design displays the Hampshire and Isle of Wight coastline.  All the materials come from local sources, including the bases, which are made from Hampshire Lime wood.

The ceremony itself was opened by the Lord-Lieutenant of Hampshire, Mrs Mary Fagan JP.  Television personality and local Hampshire luminary, Philippa Forrester, presented the awards.

A number of special guests were in attendance, including the Mayor of Southampton, the Chairman of Hampshire County Council, the Chairman of the Isle of Wight Council and Radio Solent presenter, Judy Goodlet. Many of the key companies in the IT industry, had also sent respresentatives.  And of course, they were the finalists, whose enthusiam and expertise have made this the most successful and eagerly awaited awards ceremony so far.

A list of the winners and runners-up is available on our winners page.  To view more photos of the ceremony, please visit our photographs page.

We are grateful for the support of our sponsors, Microsoft, Symantec, Cisco, Synetrix, ESRI, DELL, Citrix, SAP, Claranet, Hampshire Fare, EMC, Norsk Data, SEEDA, Anite, WYSE, Macmillan, MRSK, Progenit, Start Fareham, South Hampshire Enterprise Agency, 2nd Chance Ltd., Unisys and IBM, without whom these awards would not have been possible.